Weed, Knives and a Proposal

May 11, 2011

LUCEO photographer Kendrick Brinson and I touched down in Jamaica on a piercingly sunny day in a balmy 84 degrees. Our shoot the next day took us to the quiet town of Lucea where we had a commissioned shoot at a five-star resort the following day. As dusk turned into night I asked my inseparable partner in life and love to marry me in a pool under a faux Greek colonnade. Fortunately Ms. Brinson (and yes, remaining Brinson) said yes or the rest of the trip may have been a bit awkward.

The next few days took us from a wonderful shoot with a great client to an adventure through the streets of downtown and uptown Montego Bay to a rooftop bar accessible via the back door of a small convenience store and up a narrow dark cinder-block stairwell which overlooked the bustling half-mile street market. With our minds on visual overload we narrowly avoided conflict when held up at knife-point, escaping unscathed and with cameras still in tow fortunately. The very next morning we hopped in the hatch-back of our slightly sketchy new friend’s brother (or cousin, or friend, depending on what time of day he mentioned it) to head up through the mountains and down a bumpy dirt road to a marijuana plantation. After a sweltering hike up a small mountainside to take it all in the breeze on the ride home felt cooler. After we arrived back at our humble motel room that afternoon we decided perhaps it was time to act like regular tourists and spend the remaining day on the beach with a cool drink in hand – we figured we had earned it.